Synergistically Enhanced Electrochemical Performance of Ni-rich Cathode Materials for Lithium-ion Batteries by K and Ti Co-modification

Abstract

To improve the performance–price ratio of cathode materials, some modified Ni-rich (LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2) materials are identified by K and Ti single-doping or comodification using a simple coprecipitation method following by a proper post-treatment. The slab spacings for all the modified materials are broadened due to the doping of K and Ti. In particular, for K,Ti comodified LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 (NCM-K-Ti), it possesses remarkably improved cycling and rate performances, i.e., 160.42 mAh g–1 discharge capacity and 91.19% capacity retention at 1C after 200 cycles between 2.75 and 4.35 V. When being applied in graphite/NCM-K-Ti batteries, NCM-K-Ti keeps a high discharge capacity (173.74 mAh g–1) and excellent capacity retention rate (91.62%) at 200th cycle at 0.2 C between 2.75 and 4.2 V. The enhanced mechanism is from the synergistic effect among codoping K and Ti and Li2TiO3 coating. Enlarging the interlayer spaces by K doping will open Li+ transporting channels to accelerate Li+ transport rate. Ti doping can strengthen Ni–O bonds to improve the structure stability. Furthermore, a certain Li2TiO3 coating as a protective layer suppresses side reactions on electrodes to improve the electrochemical performance.